


The Divergence of Paths

by Madcap_Miss



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fix-It, Friendship, Gen, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-28
Updated: 2017-11-16
Packaged: 2018-09-02 20:00:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8681488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Madcap_Miss/pseuds/Madcap_Miss
Summary: Strange golden eyes catch on him, and the other teen freezes in shock. Roy stares right back, and the moment is broken by a single word spoken as if in a daze, the stranger's voice rough and brittle."...Colonel...?"





	1. First Impressions

Roy is sixteen when he first meets Edward Elric. 

He’s been loitering in the library all evening hoping to meet his teacher’s ‘brilliant colleague’, but he still nearly jumps out of his skin when the door to Master Hawkeye’s private study finally opens hours after dinner. To his shock the stranger who emerges is a teenager no older than Riza or himself, and he almost walks right past Roy, one hand lifted to cover a jaw-cracking yawn as he heads for the hall.

But then strange golden eyes blink open and catch on him. The other youth stops dead in his tracks, staring at him in frozen shock. Roy stares right back, confused and still struggling with the realization that his teachers much anticipated guest looks almost younger than Roy himself.  
The moment is broken by a single word spoken as if in a daze, the strangers voice rough and brittle.

“…Colonel…? “

Roy blinks and shifts uncertainly on his feet, at a loss for how to respond. Unsure he was even meant to hear the softly spoken query.

“Uh…”

The other teen straightens up, eyes sharpening and expression closing off as he seems to come back to himself. He still looks a little pale, but other than that there is no trace of the odd moment that just occurred.

“Sorry, I …thought you were someone else.”

Roy nods, and even though he wants to ask who he was mistaken for, his desire to meet another alchemical prodigy is stronger than his curiosity. Stepping forward, he holds out a hand in invitation.

“No offense taken. I’m Roy Mustang, Master Hawkeye’s apprentice. And you are?”

The blonde hesitates for half a second before taking his hand, but the grip is firm and steady.

“Edward Elric.”

Roy had already guessed that of course, but having it confirmed is something else entirely. He doesn’t know whether to be delighted that he’s finally found someone who shares his interests without being twice his age, or horribly envious that the other teen is already capable and reliable enough that Roy’s own teacher considers him a colleague worthy of consulting on projects.

“So you’re the visiting alchemist that teacher has been talking about? What type of alchemy do you specialize in?”

Elric shrugs, shoving his hands deep into the pockets of his long red coat.

“Got a knack for a couple different things. Manipulation mostly. You?”

Roy can’t keep the eagerness from his voice, even if Elric is being somewhat abrupt.

“I’ve been focusing on intangibles and molecular manipulation, gases and atmosphere mostly. But I’ve been hoping to learn teacher’s flame alchemy.”

Elric eyes him, expression impossible to decipher.

“Yeah? You must really be somethin’ for the old man to take an interest in you.”

Roy bites back the pleased grin that wants to burst across his face, trying to play off the compliment with a casual shrug.

“Nothing on you, certainly. How did you pass your qualifications so quickly?”

Elric looks wrong-footed for a moment, as if he hadn’t expected either the compliment or the question. Clearing his throat, he glances over at the alchemy text still laying open on Roys abandoned chair.

“Started pretty young I guess. Plus I kinda got a gift for it.”

An almost bitter smile tugs at his mouth, and golden eyes flash back to Roy.

“I’m not technically a qualified Alchemist though.”

The dark-haired teen absently picks up his book and shelves it. He hadn’t really been getting much studying done anyway.

“Teacher seems to think you are.”  
Elric snorts.  
“I never said I wasn’t competent, I said I wasn’t qualified. Haven’t taken the exam.”

When Roy shoots him a questioning look, the other youth rolls his shoulders in an easy shrug.

“Not really too keen on bein’ registered. That’s a fast ticket to conscription, and a one-way trip to the border if you ask me.”

Roy stops and turns fully back to face the other teen, astonished.  
“You do know the military doesn’t draft except in extreme emergencies…?”  
Elric leans against an empty armchair and narrows his eyes sardonically.

“Oh sure, they just show up at your door with an ‘invitation’. None of their business if you can’t turn down, is it? It’s just an invitation after all.”

Roy rolls his eyes.

“That’s a conspiracy theory. There are plenty of alchemists who are never approached by the military.”

Elric twists to better face Roy, bracing his elbow on the back of the chair and propping his chin on a fist.

“Yeah, sure there are people who get left alone. The few alchemists who go into fields like botany or hydraulics, or the ones who focus on smaller scale work, they’re fine. But somebody like me? They’d stuff me into uniform so fast it’d strip skin off.”

Roy frowns. He should let it be. Plenty of people are suspicious of the military, alchemists in particular. Still, he can’t bring himself to drop it entirely, not given his own intentions.

“You know, it might not be perfect, but the military does protect people. That’s why it exists.”

Elric stops, blinks, and then stares at him.

“Excuse me?”

Roy crosses his arms uncomfortably, but stands his ground. If he can’t even speak his mind to the closest thing to a peer he’s going to get (never mind that they just met) he’ll never be able to explain his decision to his teacher.

“The military exists to protect the country’s people. Of course it’s going to have problems, all large organizations do, but the work they do is basically good. They keep Armestris safe.”

Elric straightens from his slouch against the armchair, brow furrowed and eerie eyes gone simultaneously wide and sharp. When he speaks he sounds surprised, almost shocked.

“You…you actually believe that. Oh hell. You’re an IDEALIST?!”

The way he says the last word makes Roy flush slightly, and his spine stiffens.

“I beg your pardon?”

The blond shakes his head, and his expression has gone strange again.  
“No. I am too tired for this shit, and I’m going to bed.”

He moves for the door and Roy steps uncertainly after him, disappointment dimming his previous excitement at the discovery of an apparent peer.  
“H-hey-!”

The other youth doesn’t so much as look back, his long braid a bright beacon even in the deep shadows of the unlit hall.

“Mustang I’m tired. You wanna have this argument, you can wait until I’ve had my forty-fuckin’ winks.” 

The other youth pauses momentarily on the hall stairs.

“And breakfast. Sleep and breakfast.”

Roy gapes after him in confusion as he continues up the hall stairs.

“I…alright?”

A snort of laughter drifts back to him as the other youth vanishes in the direction of the guest bedrooms.

“See you in the morning, Mustang.”

And then Roy’s standing alone in the library, uncertain whether or not the encounter went well and more than a little stunned by the encounter.

“…good night…”


	2. An Awkward Question

They don’t end up resolving their differences over the military. Elric stubbornly clings to his conspiracy theories, and nothing Roy says can persuade him otherwise.

Still, a single difference of opinion isn’t enough to diminish Roy’s excitement over finally meeting someone who might reasonably be considered a peer. Though Elric’s mornings are almost always devoted to working with Master Berthold, he’s willing enough to spend afternoons with Roy and the opportunity to discuss what he's learning is exciting.

Five days into the visit Roy has gotten used to having a partner for his afternoon studies. So when nearly an hour passes after lunch without Elric sauntering into the library, Roy decides to go looking for him.  
It doesn’t take long to determine that the blonde isn’t on the first floor and he's just wondering if perhaps he's still working with Master Berthold when he hears the hammering start.

Stopping, he cocks his head back to stare up at the ceiling. After a moment the pounding stops, but now that he's paying attention he can hear odd noises coming from the roof. Curious, Roy heads for the backdoor. He has to walk out into the open yard behind the house before he can get a good look at what’s going on, but the surprise of what he sees stops him cold.

Elric is perched on the roof, bent over and frowning intently at something that Roy can’t see. That would be odd enough, but it's not what stops Roy. That honor belongs to the cold silver flash of the right arm bared by the black tank top the other teen is sporting.

Automail.

It suddenly hits him that he’s never seen Elric without his signature duster and gloves. Not once in the whole of his visit, despite the warmth of the late-summer weather. He’s shaken from his contemplation when the blonde glances over and sees him. For a moment he seems to hesitate, before waving down at Roy.

“Hey, Mustang. Wanna make yourself useful and give me a hand up here?”

Roy tears his eyes away from the gleaming prosthetic to squint doubtfully at the other teen, still not entirely sure why he's up there in the first place.

“Might I ask why exactly you’re on the roof first?”

Elric tips his head laconically to one side and lifts his brows, apparently unimpressed by the perfectly reasonable question.

“What’s it look like, smartass? The roof was leakin’ on me last night, so I’m fixin’ it.”

The darker teen stares up at him in bewilderment, and his reply comes out more question than statement.

“I…don’t know how to fix a roof?”

Elric snorts and makes a beckoning gesture.

“It’s not that hard. Come on, I’ll show you.”

 

* * *

 

Elric turns out to be right. Fixing the roof is more time consuming than challenging, at least when working with a more experienced partner.

Unfortunately, that means that Roy’s mind is free to wander. He tries not to stare, but his eyes keep straying to the gleaming grooves and rivets of Elric’s arm. The wide burst of scarring radiating out from beneath the shoulder plate especially holds a kind of morbid fascination for him.

He’s never met anyone with automail before. He’s heard about it of course, the expense of it and the agony that comes with installation and maintenance. Still, there’s a sort of gruesome elegance to it in person, and it’s hard to keep his eyes off of it.

Elric catches him staring more than once, and each time he jerks his eyes guiltily back to the work. The fifth time it happens, the blonde sits back on his heels and frowns confusedly at him.

“What the hell’s eating you, Mustang?”

Roy jumps and yanks his gaze back down to the roof, resolving to keep his eyes on his hands and away from exposed automail. An uncomfortable mix of nerves and guilt churns in his gut, and his voice sounds flustered even in his own ears.

“I apologize Elric, I was just a bit distracted. It won’t happen again.”

The other teen rolls his eyes and snorts.

“No shit you’re distracted. What I want to know is why?”

Roy sits back himself and lifts his eyes to meet Elric's exasperated gaze, fidgeting a bit with the corner of a loose shingle.

“It really isn’t anything to be concerned about."

Rather than replying, Elric just settles more firmly back from the nearly finished repairs. Resigned, Roy does his best to brace himself for the awkwardness that will undoubtedly follow his question.

“I was just wondering about your arm. How you came to have automail.”

Golden eyes went wide as the two of them stared at each other. For a long moment Elric just seemed surprised, as if it hadn’t occurred to him that anyone would be curious about such a thing. Then an odd expression flickered across his face, as if he’d been coming down a flight of stairs and missed the last step in the dark.

“My arm…?”

It can’t be the first time someone’s asked, but Elric sounds so odd that Roy wishes he’d never opened his mouth. Glancing away, he clears his throat and gropes desperately for some way to divert the conversation back toward safer ground. In an instant, Elric’s expression closes off and he drops his gaze, leaning forward to finish patching the roof.  
When he speaks his voice is brisk and a touch distant.

“Made a mistake with my first major transmutation. Lost a couple things.”

Roy can't help it. He gapes at him, caught somewhere between astonishment and horror.

“You lost your arm in a transmutation?!”

Elric doesn’t even glance up from where he’s sealing the new shingles.

“Leg too. It was… I fucked up.”

Roy feels a little nauseous. Of course, he’s heard of sloppy research or miscalculated circles leading to dangerous transmutations. He even made such a mistake himself once with one of his early attempts at alchemy, accidentally altering the chemical balance of the air. Master Berthold had insisted they air the house out for a full day before going back inside. Still, he’s never heard of anyone losing a whole limb to a transmutation mistake.

“What were you trying to do?”

Elric’s shoulders go tense, expression hardening into something sharp and unforgiving.

“Stupid shit.”

There’s a heavy finality to the words, and Roy bites back the other questions clamouring insistently at the back of his skull. Neither of them speaks again and they finish the repairs in a heavy, uneasy silence. As soon as they're done Elric drops over the eaves, grabs his coat from the porch railing, and strides off toward the road.

Roy doesn’t see him again for the rest of the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...alright, I really didn't think it would take me this long to add more chapters to this. I am deeply embarrassed. I'm still not quite happy with how this came out, but I've decided I'm never going to get to the parts that I think came out better if I don't bite the bullet and get the more awkward stuff out of the way first.
> 
> About the shortness of the chapters at this point, I kind of wanted to keep them abrupt and a little confusing, since it's written from young Roy's perspective and that's kind of how his interactions with time-traveling Ed go at first. So the first few chapters are just gonna be awkward and short.  
> However! In exchange for the brevity, and the long wait, I'll update a few more chapters in the coming week. I promise, later chapters are planned to be longer.
> 
> Constructive criticism is welcome!  
> (And thanks for the comments and kudos!)


	3. Clearing the Air

After the automail incident Elric became much more distant. He still studied with Roy in the afternoons, but he rarely stayed for longer than an hour or two and their previous enthusiastic debates turned into brief, stilted exchanges.

It was a subtle enough change that Roy doubted he could properly explain the significance of it to anyone else. After all, Master Berthold didn’t seem to have noticed the new stiffness of their interactions at dinner. But the difference was there and it felt upsettingly as though he might have ruined his budding friendship.

He wanted to apologize, and even opened his mouth to do so a few times when the silence of the library became particularly heavy, but he could never quite find the right words.

He practiced a few times in the privacy of his room, cross-examining the implications of different phrases and tones, standing in front of the mirror to repeat them all back as he searched for just the right thing to say.

Twice he was convinced he’d crafted the perfect apology, but each time he was confronted with Elric’s withdrawn silence his carefully crafted speeches shrivelled on his tongue, ungainly and inadequate.

In the end it all came to a head three days later, when Roy came downstairs one morning to see Elric’s travel case sitting in the front hall.

Stunned black eyes traced over the scarred and battered leather in disbelief, before he jumped the last two stairs and skidded into the kitchen.

“You’re leaving.”

It came out more an accusation than a question. Elric looked up from his breakfast, brows slightly furrowed.

“…G’morning to you too.”

Roy waved the concept of morning pleasantries off impatiently, anxiety making him jittery as words tripped too-quick off his tongue.  

“I apologize if I’ve made you uncomfortable, but surely there’s no need for you to leave yet! Master Berthold’s project-”

Elric cut him off, expression tight and uncomfortable. Roy would almost say he was angry, but there was something about the set of his brows that didn’t quite fit that.

“Breathe, Mustang.”

Roy broke off and shifted his weight uncomfortably, caught between embarrassment, indignation, and upset. He scrambled for something smoother, straining to remember  the apologies he had put together in the past few days, but Elric beat him to it.

“Look, this isn’t…. The project we're working on, that’s a long term thing. Most of the research can’t be done locally, and it's not like the old hermit's gonna go do it.”

Roy struggled not to glare at the blonde, but he couldn’t keep the edge of heat from his voice.

“You never said that you would be leaving so soon!”

Elric settled back in his chair, voice tight and cautious.

“Thought it was obvious. We've worked through most of what I brought in already, so it’s time to go check out a few more things. Never get anything done if we just sit on what we’ve already got.”

Roy dropped into a chair across from Elric with the sort of belligerent unhappiness that never failed to make his aunt mutter long-sufferingly.

“Except that as neither of you tells me anything about what you’re working on, I could hardly be aware of it requiring your absence. You haven't mentioned it once since you arrived.”

He hesitated for half an instant, and then pushed stubbornly on, setting his jaw mulishly.

“Are you still upset with me? For asking about your automail?”

It wasn’t the most delicate approach to the topic, but Roy was too worked up to be circumspect. Elric crossed his arms over his chest, and his expression took on a definite hint of guilt.

“That... Look, I’m not upset with you. Automail makes people curious, I get it. Just-”

He cut himself off, and his eyes fixed on a point over Roy’s shoulder in a thousand yard stare.

“It just reminded me of something.”

There was something almost melancholy about the words, and for a long moment the two of them sat in silence so loaded that the heavy press of it on Roy's skin nearly made him shudder.

Soon enough though Elric shook himself free of his contemplation and cleared his throat.

“My point is it’s nothing you did, so you can put away the guilt complex.”

Roy blinked at him, surprised. He’d never thought of himself as having a guilt complex. On the contrary, Master Berthold and Aunt Chris had both accused him of being a shade too flippant more than once.

Still, he was a little suspicious of this sudden forgiveness after being given the cold shoulder for days on end.

“Still, I shouldn’t have pried. If you would allow me to make amends, I would be grateful.”

Elric snorted, and his expression eased into something a little closer to familiar.

“The fuck, Mustang. You already apologized, and I already said it was fine. Let it be already.”

Roy frowned slightly.

“I simply wanted to ensure that you understood how much I regretted my carelessness. I'd like to think we're friends, after all.”

Elric cocked his head, eyeing him strangely.

“Friends, huh?”

Roy felt his stomach turn a nervous somersault, face heating up slightly. 

"Yes. Friends."

 The tone of his voice dared Elric to argue, but after studying Roy for a minute he gave a hesitant nod.

"I guess so."

Roy nodded decisively and reached for the boiled eggs, trying to cover his embarrassment with the bustle of serving himself breakfast. For a while the only sound was the clink of silverware against plates as the two of them ate.

Eventually, Elric cleared his throat.

“I’ll be gone for a couple months or so, but I should be back by December. If you’re still around, maybe I could help you work on that vacuum project you were talking about.”

Roy looked up in pleased surprise.

“The displacement circle? The one you said was an unsound theory that was too volatile for practical use?”

Elric rolled his eyes.

“No, I said it was a dangerous idea that was better off staying an academic theory. But since we both know you’re definitely gonna try it anyway, I might as well hang around to watch the fireworks.”

Roy grinned.

Things still weren’t quite as relaxed as they had been before, but the worst of the tension had dispelled. Elric was back to his usual sharp, impatient self and more than willing to argue with Roy over the practicality of his latest exercises.

After they cleared away the breakfast dishes Roy followed Elric out to the front porch.

“I could come with you to the train station.”

Elric lifted a hand dismissively, slinging the case over his shoulder as Roy pulled the door closed behind them.

“No, it’s fine. I’ll probably end up catching a ride with a cart or something after I hit the road.”

The blonde started down the porch steps, then paused and glanced back over his shoulder.

“See you in a couple months, Roy.”

Elric didn’t look back again, but Roy waved anyway as he watched the other teen leave.

It wasn’t until later that evening when he’d abandoned his texts for Aunt Chris’ latest letter that he realized it was the first time Elric had ever used his first name.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so in order to avoid confusion!
> 
> Ed isn't trying to be a jerk, but the whole automail thing really slams home for him that Roy isn't the same person as Colonel Mustang. So this chapter was mostly about the fallout of him dealing with the revelation that the one person he recognizes in the past is also not really the person he knows. 
> 
> Thanks again to the people who commented! 
> 
> BTW, I hope you enjoyed confused!Roy. That boy is adorable, but it is freakin' hard to write him without full-fledged colonel Mustang popping up in the middle of an interaction. If you notice any of that happening, please let me know! I do try to catch it all in rewrites, but I don't actually have a beta-reader and sometimes I slip up.


	4. An Unexpected Lesson

Following Elric’s departure, Roy found himself unusually restless. He still devoted himself whole-heartedly to his studies, but once he put down the alchemy books he found it difficult to concentrate. He spent more time outside than he ever had before, wandering restively between the road and the house.

He was sure Master Berthold had noticed the sudden change in his behaviour but the older alchemist never said anything. Roy asked him once when Elric would be returning, but all he would say was that the other teen would be back when he'd finished following up on their latest research avenue.

It took a week or two, but eventually Roy settled back into his usual routine; working on the displacement circle in the mornings, studying in the afternoons, and spending the evenings buried in the historical fiction novels that Master Berthold kept for his daughter.

And if he sat by the windows at the front of the house more often than he had before, well…the light was better there anyway.

* * *

 Two and half months after Elric’s visit, Roy sat back from his latest text and threw his arms over his head, arching his back in a long stretch. He’d been hunched over a heavy tome on the finer points of transmutation circles for the last hour, and the pull of the stretch felt so good he nearly groaned.

He was just relaxing back into his chair when there was a flash of gold and red in his peripheral vision. With a yelp of excitement, he jumped from his chair and hurried to the window. Sure enough Elric was coming up the road, the brightness of his hair and duster standing out almost violently against the calm greens and dusty browns of the country background.

Roy scrambled for the front door, and then skidded to an abrupt halt in the front hall, suddenly conflicted. Running to meet him on the road would be childishly over-eager, wouldn’t it? He couldn’t really imagine Elric running to meet anyone, and he didn’t want the other teen to think that he was immature. Maybe it would be better to wait in the library?

He only made it as far as the doorway before he stopped uncertainly. Of course he didn’t want Elric to think him immature, but if he waited in the hall to open the door that was just good manners wasn’t it? Not too quickly of course, but if he could time it right it should be prompt enough to make Elric feel welcome without making Roy look puerile.

He was still hesitating in the doorway when a sharp knock sounded against the door. Startled, he yelped and twisted to lunge for the door. Unfortunately his feet tangled and staggered forward so heavily off balance that he only just managed to catch himself against the far wall with a distinct thud. Shaking himself, he straightened and scrambled to yank the door open.

"You're back!" The words exploded out of him before he could think better of it, and he felt his face flush warm. Elric squinted at him and cocked his head, looking ever so faintly bewildered. “Uh…yeah. How’s country life c-…Roy.”

The hesitation before his name nearly turned the question into a statement, but Roy overlooked it as he waved Elric into the house. “The same as it always is. What about you? Where did you go? It’s been so long since you left!”

Elric snorted, making a point of knocking the worst of the dust from his boots before he crossed the threshold. “Near the west-south border. The libraries out there have some books from Creta that I thought might have been useful.”

Roy trailed after Elric as he headed for the upstairs guest room, voice echoing his surprise at the revelation. “Creta? I didn’t know they had alchemists there.” Elric dumped his travel case in a corner of the room with a snort.

“They don’t, not really. What they’ve got is a bunch of old guys with too much time on their hands who like to argue about how they think it all works. Theorists, they call ‘em. Mostly horseshit as it turns out.”

Roy blinked uncertainly. “Oh. I’m sorry to hear it went so poorly.” Elric shrugged and turned back towards him. “Didn’t say that. Got some good perspective on some things. A couple ideas even.” Rolling his shoulders, he turned and lead the way back down towards the library. “Where’s the old man?”

Roy shrugged. “He went to town this morning, but he should be back by sundown.” Elric looked somewhere between surprised and resigned, grumbling under his breath just a hair too low for Roy to make anything out. Then he tossed his braid over his shoulder with huff and made his way to the library.

“Got it. What about you? Studying?”

Roy trotted ahead of him to close the heavy book he’d spent the morning working his way through. “Yes, but I was almost done anyway. I can stop for now.” His mind was buzzing with so many questions about the Cretan theorists Elric mentioned that he didn’t notice the way the other teen stared as he struggled to wrestle the book back onto its high shelf.  

“So do Theorists base their work off of alchemy texts or-” When he turned he was surprised to find Elric scowling incredulously at him. “What the fuck Mustang, it’s a book!” That brought him up sharply and he stared blankly at the brighter youth, utterly lost. “What?” The blonde jerked his head sharply at the thick tome now slotted comfortably back between it’s shelf-mates.

“You nearly sprained something just putting a book back on the shelf? What the actual fuck?” Elric marched over to take hold of his arm, fingers easily circling it. “Do you ever leave this library? When was the last time you went outside?” Roy blinked and shifted, caught between indignation and confusion. “I’m perfectly healthy, Elric!” The blonde snorted derisively. “Sure you are.”

With a determined expression, he dragged Roy back through the hall and out the front door. Roy followed him without much of a struggle, confusion overwhelming the earlier embarrassed hurt. “Where are we going?”

Elric stripped off his duster and tossed it over the porch railing. Remembering the incident from Elric's last visit, Roy deliberately kept his eyes off the automail. Fortunately (or perhaps unfortunately) Elric's reply thoroughly distracted him from the gleaming metal. “To spar. You need the exercise.”

Roy stared at him. “What? I- I don’t know how to fight.” Elric pushed him firmly towards the grassy lawn that stretched between the porch and the trees. “Yeah, well you’re gonna learn.” Roy twisted around to stare at his friend in confusion. “Elric, I’m an alchemist. I don’t need hand to hand combat training.”

The blond hesitated, then set his jaw and voice rough-edged. “First, quit calling me Elric. It’s weird. My name’s Ed. Second, what’re you gonna do if you get into a fight? Pull out a piece of chalk? 'Cause I've seen people try that and unless there's a lot of people between them and the other guy, it usually gets them shot.”

Roy hesitated and El-…Ed rolled his eyes. “Look take it from someone who spends a lot of time on the road, it’s a lot safer to be able to fight than not. At the very least you won’t have trouble lifting your own books anymore.” Roy scowled at that last. That particular tome weighed more than the cans of milk Master Berthold had delivered to the house. A thought occurred to him and he perked up slightly.

“Alright. But then you have to tell me what you and Master Berthold have been working on.”

Ed nodded decisively, apparently more than satisfied now that he’d terrorized Roy into this ludicrous idea. “Fair. First thing you need to worry about is keeping your balance, which means you need a good solid stance…”  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In FMA even though Roy apparently spent years learning alchemy with Riza's father, she doesn't seem to know him personally when they speak at the mans funeral. I always kind of thought that meant he sent her off to boarding school during the year, so that's why she's not around yet. Roy knows of her, but they haven't met. In case anyone was wondering.
> 
> Hope you guys enjoyed puppy!Roy. I'm going to miss writing him once we get into the meat of the fic. 
> 
> Thanks for the comments and the kudos! (Kudos'? Kudai? Or is the singular Kudo? This is gonna bother me now...) Questions and constructive criticism are always welcome!


End file.
